COUNTRY IN FOCUS
Massawa is within trucking distance of Sabodala, creating
the opportunity for significant capital and operating
synergies. At the time Bristow said that the proximity of
the projects and the combination of Sabodala’s mill and
Massawa’s high-grade ore are expected to scale Sabodala
into a top tier asset.
Bristow has always fancied Senegal, and with reason. It
falls within a very prospective region of West Africa, and
remains reasonably unexplored, something Bristow (if
his new role allows him to continue sniffing out new ore
bodies) and other trailblazers like John Welborn, managing
director and CEO of Australian company Resolute Mining,
will not allow to pass them by.
In fact, Resolute was involved in another significant deal
in West Africa last year when they acquired an expansive
exploration portfolio covering almost 2800km² across
Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea from private gold
producer Toro Gold. So highly does Resolute rate its
West African assets, that the company recently sold its
Ravenswood gold mine in Queensland, Australia, to focus
exclusively on its African acquisitions. One of these, Mako,
only a stone’s throw from Massawa, recently released
exceptional results from its drilling programme. Mako’s
proximity to other operations like Massawa and Sabodala
makes it easy to see the logic in some form of cooperation
or joint venture, which Welborn indeed alluded to when
announcing the results from Mako’s drilling programme at
the beginning of the new year.
According to Welborn, high grade intersections from
diamond drilling below the current Mako pit confirms the
potential of a coherent lode at the north-eastern end of
the existing Mako open pit. Welborn says that the positive
exploration results demonstrate the potential for mine life
extension at Mako.
“The positive exploration results are further confirmation of
value creation at Mako. The drilling results indicate strong
potential to increase open pit gold inventory at Mako
which will extend the life of our new high quality, low cost
operation. We are delighted to be operating successfully
in Senegal and we are actively seeking to expand our
tenement package to include new high-quality exploration
prospects,” says Welborn.
Why Senegal?
The allure of Senegal is not difficult to grasp. Besides the
exceptional geology and mineral endowment, the country
has been reasonably peaceful, politically stable and the
economic outlook is fairly positive with a number of
major projects in the pipeline. According to George Ott,
consultant at NKC African Economics, there are a number
of infrastructure projects underway in Senegal, amongst
others the Taiba Ndiaye wind farm project, the Dakar
Regional Express Train and the construction of Diamniadio,
a new futuristic city outside Dakar.
Notwithstanding, perhaps one of the most significant
determinants of economic growth in Senegal, says Ott,
will be the imminent onset of oil and gas production.
“One of the major oil and gas projects in Africa, the
Greater Tortue Ahmeyin project off the coast of
Mauritania and Senegal, is currently being developed,
which promises to give the Senegalese economy a huge
injection,” he adds.
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Mergers and exploration
President Macky Sall won the February presidential election quite
comfortably in the first round, earning 58.26% of the vote and is firmly
in control.
According to Tara O’Connor, managing director at London-
based Africa Risk Consulting, the biggest opportunities in
Senegal lie in the hydrocarbon domain and infrastructure
development, especially in the energy space. “Senegal
has announced it will sell 10 oil blocks in 2020 and has
been attracting significant interest in this area, so it is one
to watch out for,” she tells African Mining. “Furthermore,
the country will start producing natural gas in 2022, and
this could create space for the use of gas fired plants to
provide energy for the population and industrial activity
and mining. With the improving business climate, as well
as Senegal’s coastal location and the enactment of the
African Continental Free Trade Act (AfCTA), promoting the
production of finished goods which can be exported can be
a viable business activity which industrial activity will help
to pursue,” says O’Connor.
Ease of doing business
West African analyst at Africa Risk Consulting, Leonard
Mbulle-Nziege says that Senegal is increasingly becoming
one of the most attractive places to carry out business in
West Africa. “According to the World Bank Doing Business
report, since 2018, Senegal has improved its ranking from
148 out of 190 countries to 122 in the most recent 2020
rankings. Some of the areas in which Senegal has made
business easier to do include, easing tax payments, getting
electricity, registering property, enforcing contracts as well
as starting a business,” says Mbulle-Nziege.
Other than phosphates, which have dominated the
mining industry for a long time, a wealth of diverse
African Mining
African Mining February 2020
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